Land and Housing

Specificities of the property market in cross-border areas

The large differences in property prices from one side of the border to the other encourage the local population to reside more on one side than the other. Within the French-Luxembourgish and French-Swiss territories, (notably in Greater Geneva), this dynamic is particularly pronounced, with numerous inhabitants choosing to live on the French side. Typically, the choice to reside in France allows cross-border workers to enjoy larger homes for lower prices and easier access to detached houses than in Switzerland or Luxembourg. Cross-border commuters residing in France can also become homeowners more quickly, while in Switzerland or Luxembourg they would have to remain renters. For example, only 18% of households in the Canton of Geneva are owners of their homes, while on the French side of the Greater Geneva territory, homeowners represent 59% of households.

The very high property prices in Switzerland and Luxembourg are influenced by the high local salaries as well as a limited housing supply. A context of housing shortage is exacerbated by the extremely high rate of creation of new jobs, unaccompanied by the construction of new homes. From 2006 to 2013, only 1,500 homes per year were built in the Canton of Geneva, while 4,500 were built on the French side. In 2018, the average price of a new apartment in Geneva rises to 8,490 euros/m2, while it is around 4,100 euros/m2 on the French side of the territory.

A sharp increase in rental demand in cross-border territories is contributing to a rise in property prices also on the French side. In the Greater Geneva territory, the prices rise as a function of proximity to the border, representing the highest prices in the Pays de Gex (with an average price of 4,540 euros/m2). This creates a difficult situation for middle-income households working on the French side - often earning considerably less than cross-border workers, their access to the local housing market becomes more complicated. It is also more expensive to build social housing within these spaces. Territories counting large numbers of cross-border workers are therefore affected by the growth in inequalities and the polarisation between different sections of the population.